Royal Court
Finally an entertaining play at the Royal Court: Cuckoo reviewed
The boss of the Royal Court, Vicky Featherstone, will soon step down and she’s using her final spell in charge…
How politics killed theatre
Zoe Strimpel on how identity politics is killing theatre
Bloated waffle: Jitney at the Old Vic reviewed
The Old Vic’s new show, Jitney, has a mystifying YouTube advert which gives no information about the play or the…
This Trump satire is too soft on Sleepy Joe and Cackling Kamala: The 47th at the Old Vic reviewed
Trump is said to be a gift for bad satirists and a problem for good ones. He dominates Mike Bartlett’s…
A triumph: Young Vic's Hamlet reviewed
Here goes. The Young Vic’s Hamlet, directed by Greg Hersov, is a triumph. This is a pared-back, plain-speaking version done…
Jennifer Saunders is brilliant: Blithe Spirit at the Harold Pinter Theatre reviewed
Blithe Spirit is a comedy with the plot of a horror story. Charles, a middle-aged novelist, lives happily with his…
A shrill, ugly, tasteless muddle: Romeo & Juliet reviewed
What shall we destroy next? Romeo & Julietseems a promising target and the Globe has set out to vandalise Shakespeare’s…
The best theatre of the 21st century
Not looking great, is it? Until we all get jabbed, theatres may have to stay closed. And even the optimists…
Poetic and profound: The Starry Messenger reviewed
Kenneth Lonergan, who wrote the movie Manchester by the Sea, shapes his work from loss, disillusionment, small-mindedness, hesitation and superficiality,…
This Boris play only gets it half-right
The opening of Jonathan Maitland’s new play about Boris purports to be based on real events. Just before the referendum,…
One of the best plays I’ve ever seen: I and You at the Hampstead Theatre reviewed
Lauren Gunderson’s play I and You opens in the scruffy bedroom of 17-year-old Caroline. Lonely, beautiful and furious, she’s unable…
Flop of the year? Royal Court’s Instructions for Correct Assembly reviewed
‘Hunt the Flop’, the Royal Court’s bizarre quest for dud plays, has found a candidate for this year’s overall prize.…
Why do critics claim to adore the waffle-fest that is Long Day’s Journey into Night?
It’s considered the great masterpiece of 20th-century American drama. Oh, come off it. Long Day’s Journey into Night is a…
Verbal diarrhoea
In Beckett’s Happy Days a prattling Irish granny is buried waist-deep, and later neck-deep, in a refuse tip whose detritus…
Les Blancs at the Olivier is good-ish, but it won't be a classic
Les Blancs had a troubled birth. In 1965 several unfinished drafts of the play were entrusted by its dying author,…
Fun, disturbing and ultimately forgettable: Hangmen at Wyndhams reviewed
It begins with a sketch. We’re in a prison in 1963 where Harry Wade, the UK’s second most famous hangman,…
A rare moment of transcendence at the Royal Court
Illness forced Kim Cattrall to withdraw from Linda, the Royal Court’s new show, and Noma Dumezweni scooped up the debris…
The set's better than the characterisation: The Father at the Wyndham's reviewed
The Father, set in a swish Paris apartment, has a beautifully spare and elegant set. The stage is framed by…
If I were a cultural Marxist, I might be thinking about giving up
In his Memoirs, Kingsley Amis includes a story about meeting Roald Dahl at a party in the 1970s. Dahl advises…
If you thought politics was boring, you should check out today’s political theatre
How has political theatre fared during the coalition? Not very well, writes Lloyd Evans
Measure for Measure at the Barbican reviewed: a charity show for homesick non-doms
The smash hit Matilda, based on a Roald Dahl story, has spawned a copycat effort, The Twits. Charm, sweetness and…
How to Hold Your Breath, Royal Court, review: yet more state-funded misanthropy
‘We hate the system and we want the system to pay us to say we hate the system.’ The oratorio…
National Theatre’s 3 Winters: a hideous Balkans ballyhoo
A masterpiece at the National. A masterpiece of persuasion and bewitchment. Croatian word-athlete Tena Stivicic has miraculously convinced director Howard…
New wonders among old shelves at the London Library
The Royal Court Theatre, the Young Vic Theatre and the London Library (above) are buildings of varied character and rich…
A cast of celebs fails to bring any oomph to The Ladykillers
The Ladykillers is back. Sean Foley’s adaptation of the classic Ealing comedy introduces us to a crew of villains who…
